Georgia football lands commitment from former MLB draftee

ATHENS – Georgia’s recruiting class for 2017 has grown, and the program’s latest addition is a bit peculiar.

Jake Skole has committed to Georgia on Saturday, according to a report from Dawgs247.com. Skole was a graduate of Blessed Trinity High School in 2010, and was a two-sport athlete. Skole was committed to Georgia Tech for football, but was also drafted in the first-round by the Texas Rangers.

Unfortunately, the baseball route for Skole didn’t work out as planned, not reaching the Major League level throughout six seasons in the Rangers’ minor league system. As a result, he has chosen to exhaust his NCAA eligibility and flip to the rival of his previous commitment and play with the Bulldogs.

Skole plans to enroll at the university in January, and he elaborated on why he plans to play at Georgia and head back to the gridiron.

“I am not sure if it will be linebacker or safety, there were a couple of schools that wanted me to stick it out on the offensive side of the ball, but that was part of the reason I am going with Georgia, they want me on defense,” Skole said.

Skole added that he also had received significant interest from Florida State and Georgia Tech along with the avid efforts of Bulldogs’ head coach Kirby Smart.

Skole told UGASports.com that he will be a walk-on to Georgia’s program, because his baseball contract entailed that Major League Baseball would pay for his education if he chose to pursue a degree, so Georgia will not have to give a scholarship to Skole when he enrolls.

When Skole committed to Georgia Tech in 2010, he was rated as a three-star prospect, according to the 247Sports composite. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound athlete also ranked as the 74th-overall safety nationally and the 83rd-overall prospect in the state of Georgia.

The latest addition now gives Georgia 14 committed prospects for the class of 2017, and Skol joins wide receiver Matt Landers as the second three-star prospect in the class.